Uh, usually ... but not always.
Case in point: Lindsay Lohan, the new face of Lawyer.com. BuzzFeed has already pronounced her first ad (above) to be "iconic"—but yeah, no, it's not. For one thing, there's the cheesy set—an attempted simulacrum of an accessible lawyer's office, complete with pink flowers on desks and a pink water cooler. And then there's the script, delivered by an antsy Lohan, who begins by saying, "When Lawyer.com first reached out to me, um, I was confused and a little scared, because I thought I was in trouble." She lets out a quick laugh, then adds, "But when they asked me to be their spokesperson, I was intrigued. After meeting with the team, I realized that Lawyer.com is just about helping people."
OK, so far so good, sorta. She continues: "From getting a DUI—let's not forget I got one." Then she lets out another quick laugh and the camera cuts to a close-up of her face as she haltingly adds, "Or two or three or some others."
Yeah, cut!
We're not even halfway through the ad, and Lohan is reminding us that she's pretty much the furthest thing from an average nonfamous person who might actually use a service like Lawyer.com. Rather, she's a notorious recidivist who obviously had high-powered attorneys at the ready during her darkest days.
Perhaps it's uncharitable to dwell on Lohan's past—this ad is supposed to be part of her continuing, endless redemption tour, right?—but she brought it up and is making light of it. So let's go to the tape. Per a July 24, 2007 Associated Press report:
Santa Monica, Calif. — The troubled saga of Lindsay Lohan took another dangerous turn early today when police booked her on suspicion of drunken driving and cocaine possession after a frightened woman dialed 911 to report being chased by Lohan's SUV. Less than two weeks out of rehab, with another drunken-driving case pending, Lohan had a blood-alcohol level of between 0.12 and 0.13 percent when police found her about 1:30 a.m., Sgt. Shane Talbot said.
And so on.
Celebrities—they're not just like us. They do not surf over to Lawyer.com to find legal representation.
Anyway, so far there are 31 comments and counting below Lohan's ad on YouTube. Some of them are supportive, but most aren't. The most-liked comment at the moment, from a user named Laur0sie, reads:
I endangered the lives of other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians multiple times because I'm too irresponsible to arrange alternate transportation for a night of drinking, lol
Here's a non-legal, technical question: Do the folks at Lawyer.com know how to disable comments on their YouTube videos?
